Electrical conductor



(No Model.)

No. 423,527. Patented Mai". 18, 1890.

U ITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE E. MILLER, OF LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS.

ELECTRIINQAL. CON DUCTO R.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 423,527, dated March 18, 1890.

Application filed January 27, 1390. sesame. 338,262. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Electrical Conductors, of

which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification.

It is sometimes necessary in constructing electric railways that the electric road should 1 cross a steam-railway at grade, and as such crossings are usually street-crossings which are provided with gates or arms adapted to' be lowered when a steam-train is passing and .to be raised at other times, and as the overhead conductor for the electric railway must showing the crossing of an electric and a pass over the steam-railway track in the path of these gates or arms, it becomes necessary to provide an overhead electric conductor of the electric railway which shall perm it of raising and lowering the gates or arms, and which shall at the same time aiford, when the gate is up, a continuous conductor, from any point of which the electric car may be supplied with a current of electricity.

The object of my invention is the construction of a conductor by which the ends above mentioned may be attained; and it consists in the device the best form of which now known to me is shown in the accompanying drawings, and is hereinafter described.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective steam railway, as also my improved conductor. Fig. 2. is a detail showing the trolley of an electric car in contact with the conductor at one of the blocks where the break in the conductor occurs. Fig. 3 is a detail.

A is the track of the steam-railway.

B is the track of the electric railway.

O are the arms or gates, which are of a well-known form and construction, and which are placed on either side of the steam-railway track and parallel therewith and arranged to be lowered by an attendant when a train is approaching for the purpose of preventing persons or vehicles on the street from getting onto the track.

D is the overhead electric conductor for supplying a current of electricity to the momit of this I set posts a in line with the arm 0 when the arm is down and a sufficientdistance beyond either end of said arm to allow of the operation thereof. On each of these posts a, at the height of the electric conductor D, I secure a cross-pieceb. From either end of the cross-piece b, I stretch supportingwires 01 e to the opposite cross-piece 'b, as shown in Fig. 1. Where the overhead conductor D crosses the supporting-wires d e, I insert in said wires rods or bolts f, one of which is shown more clearly at Fig.'2, having screwthreads at either end thereof for the reception of a screw-threaded swivel-link g, provided with aneye h, to which the supportingwires are secured. On this rod f of the wire 6 is placed a blocker chair j, the bolt f passing through a hole'lc in said block and held in place therein by nuts on said bolt on either side of said block, as shown. At the rear end of the block is a vertical hole Z, by means of which the chair is secured to the overhead conductor D, the section of said conductor extending between the wires (1 6 having been removed, The chair or hlockj is recessed or slotted vertically in front for the reception of a small block m, through which the bolt f also passes, the said bolt f forming the pivot on which the block m may rock or swing. Projecting from this block m, substantially at right angles to each other, are two arms 12. p,'whicl1 are long enough to extend across the space between the wires (1 and e. A short arm q projects upwardly and obliquely from the rear of the block m and carries a weight 4, which is so located relatively to the said block m that when the lowerproin contact with and press it against the under side of the block a, which is on the rod f of the wire d, and when the arm 10 is horizontal the position of the weight r is such as to hold jecting arm n is horizontal the weight tends to raise it, and thus hold its free end firmly the arm p down and its free end in contact] with the upper surface of the block a. The

bolt f, which is in the supporting-wire cl,"

passes through the block a, and the rear of the block a has a vertical hole, by means of which it is secured to the conductor D. The block a is of an oblong shape, with a V- shapedgroove b on its upper and under sides to give greater contact-surface, as shown, Fig. 2, and the arm 'n, which is in horizontal rec position when the gates .are raised and the crossing is clear for the electric car to pass, is in contact with and lies in the groove on the under side of said block, while the weight is sufficient to hold the arm n closely in eontact with said block, and thus secure electrical connection. The shape of the arm n in crosssection is preferably such as to correspond with the groove in the block a. and with the wire D while the gates are down; but if that should be desirable the arm 10 may be of metal and substantially like the arm n.

In order that the electric current may pass along the overhead conductor regardless of arms 10 or n, I provide a connecting-wire d, which is secured to the vertical overhead conductor some distance from the supporting- Wires and passes back of the gates,being supported on the posts a, or on any other suitable support, and thence to the overhead conductor D at a point beyond the crossing. By this arrangement of the wire d theicurrent is free to pass through the overhead conductor at all times.

The arrangement of cross supporting-wires d e is duplicated on the other side of the steam-railway track (if that sidebe provided with a gate) to accommodate said gate, as will be clear from Fig. 1. The link-and-swivel connection h g in the supporting-wires per-' mits of the tightening of the supportingwires, as also of the taking out of the blocks j or a whenever it is desired. The blocks j and a are in fact parts of the conductor D, and may eitherbe insulated from the supporting-wires d e or these wires may have insulators inserted therein in any well-known manner. In order that the ascending or descendin g arm 0 may strike the projecting arms n p in the right mannerto raise or lower them vertically without twisting or straining their pivots or incurring danger of breaking the arms n p, I have provided the-gate-arm O with a striker f ,which consists simply of a stiff rod or wire secured in any suitable manner to the gate-arm at the point on said arm where it comes in contact in its movement with the arms up, said striker being shaped, as shown, so that that portion of it which strikes the arm 'n or arm p will be substantially horizontal when it comes in contact therewith, as shown by the dotted lines, Fig. 1. By this means the movement of the gate-arm 0 tends to move the arms 72. 10 in a vertical line and not to strain them or press them sidewise. This striker is only desirable in case the arms 07. and 19 move vertically, or substantially so. If they should move in a plane oblique to the horizon, the striker might be dispensed with; butl prefer to use the striker and have the said arms 11. and 19 move vertically, as shown.

It will be obvious that the precise shape of the blocks j a is not material, and that the block m and arms n 10 may be madeintegral, forming simply a right-angled lever, which is pivoted at its bend to, the terminal of one portion of the conductor D, and which is long enough to reach to the terminal of the other portion of the said conductor, and thus supply the place of the portion or section of said conductor which has been removed.

As will be obvious, my conductoris equally well adapted for permitting the passage of other objects than railway-crossing gates. What I claim is 1 1. An electrical conductor composed of two or more parts or sections, the proximate ends of said parts being separated topermit of the passage therebetween of a railway-crossing gate, and having a movable arm secured to one of said proximate ends and normally extending in contact with the other of said ends to complete the circuit through both sections of the conductor, whereby the gatearm automatically opens the conductor in passing through it, substantially as shown and described.

2. An overhead conductor for electric railways, having a section removed therefrom, and having a pivoted weighted arm inserted therein, said arm being normally in contact with both -portions-of the conductor to complete the circuit and adapted to swing out of contact to permit the passage of a. gate-arm or other object, substantially as shown and described.

3. The combination, with an electrical con- ICO ductor, of the supports (1 e, the blocks j a,

secured to separate portions of the conductor, and the pivoted arm 91., secured to one of said blocks and provided with suitable means, as the weight 7', for holding it in contact with the other block, substantially as shown and described.

4. The combination, with the conductor D, 'blocksj a, and suitable supports therefor, of the block m, pivoted to said block j, and the arms n and p, substantially as shown and described.

5. An electrical conductor having a section removed therefrom, and having a pivoted arm, as n, inserted therein and arranged, when in its normal position, to connect the portions of said conductor, in combination with a gate-arm provided with a striker, as f, whereby as the striker comes in contact with the arm n in lowering the gate-arm the said arm n will be swung downward to allow the gate-arm to descend, substantially as shown and described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribingwitnesses, on this 23d day of January, A. D. 1890.

GEORGE E. MILLER. 

